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Evolving perspectives on abrupt seasonal changes of the general circulation

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Abstract

Professor Duzheng YE (Tu-cheng YEH) was decades ahead of his time in proposing a model experiment to investigate whether abrupt seasonal changes of the general circulation can arise through circulation feedbacks alone, unrelated to underlying inhomogeneities at the lower boundary. Here, we introduce Professor YEH’s ideas during the 1950s and 1960s on the general circulation and summarize the results and suggestions of Yeh et al. (1959) on abrupt seasonal changes. We then review recent advances in understanding abrupt seasonal changes arising from model experiments like those proposed by Yeh et al. (1959). The model experiments show that circulation feedbacks can indeed give rise to abrupt seasonal transitions. In these transitions, large-scale eddies that originate in midlatitudes and interact with the zonal mean flow and meridional overturning circulations in the tropics play central roles.

摘要

叶笃正教授对大气环流的季节突变的观点领先于他所处的时代数十年. 这体现在他所提议的一个模式实验, 该模式实验试图用于验证大气环流的季节突变是否可能仅仅通过环流内部的反馈就可以产生, 而无须依赖于下垫面性质的非均一性. 在这里, 我们首先简单介绍叶笃正教授于1950和60年代关于大气环流的见解, 并总结叶笃正、陶诗言和李麦村(1959)关于季节突变的主要结果及对其机理的猜想和实验建议. 然后我们综述对季节突变理解的最近进展, 尤其集中于那些通过由叶笃正先生等建议的模式实验所得到的理解. 模式实验显示环流反馈本身确实能够导致环流季节性突然转折的产生. 在这样的转折中, 源于中纬度的大尺度涡旋及其与纬向平均环流和热带经圈翻转环流的相互作用起着关键作用.

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Acknowledgements

J. H. LU is indebted to Professor YEH’s mentoring over more than two decades. Both authors acknowledge the Organization Committee of Professor YEH’s Centenary Symposium for the invitation to the symposium. J. H. LU is grateful for the support from the LASG during his visit to the lab. J. H. LU is supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 4157060636) and the Hundred Talents Program of Sun Yat-sen University.

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  1. School of Atmospheric Science, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, Guangdong, 519082, China

    Jianhua Lu

  2. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, CA91125, USA

    Tapio Schneider

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  1. Jianhua Lu
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Correspondence to Jianhua Lu.

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Lu, J., Schneider, T. Evolving perspectives on abrupt seasonal changes of the general circulation. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 34, 1185–1194 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-017-7068-4

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